In accordance with A.R.S. §15-905(L), the FY 2023 BUDG-75 Expenditure Analysis Letters are now published. Letters are based on the most recent FY 2023 BUDG-75 Over Expenditure reports, which have been calculated using FY 2023 BSA55 SRC information.  These letters serve as official notification of any over expenditure for FY 2023, and how Budget Balance/Over Expenditure values should be recorded on the next FY 2024 budget revision.

District BUDG-75 Letters are available to download from the School Finance website:

• First, select the start fiscal year of 2023.
• Next, select the optional execution date of 02/21/2024 and/or hit “Apply.”
• Next, use the filter icon above “Ed Org ID” or “Ed Org Name” to filter for your district.
• Finally, click on the highlighted “Budget-75 Expenditure Analysis Letter” file under the “Report File Name” column.

District BSA 55 reports are available to download from the School Finance website:

• First, select 2023 as the fiscal year.
• Next, select your school district and then click “View Reports.”
• Next, scroll down the page to the “School District Reports” section.
• Finally, click the FY23 SRC “PDF” button under the BSA-55 Report section. The FY 2023 BSA55 SRC report will appear. If a 915 was completed, please select that report instead.

The expenditure analysis letters are addressed to the district's governing board in care of the district superintendent. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the district to inform the district's governing board members accordingly. 

Please contact the Budget Team ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

Thank you!

In pursuant to Arizona Revised Statute 15-992-F and starting with the Fiscal Year 2024 February district state-aid payment, School Finance has included adjustments on the BSA-64 report for the county equalization assistance.

This adjustment was calculated by taking each district’s Fiscal Year 2024 January state-aid equalization amount and dividing that by the county total Fiscal Year 2024 January district state-aid equalization amount to get each district’s percentage of the county equalization total. That percentage was then multiplied by the reported county total equalization amount provided by each county. This proportion of the reported county equalization amount is what each district will have their Fiscal Year 2024 state-aid equalization amount adjusted by.

Please see the attached worksheet for the data involved in this calculation.

Please contact School Finance Payment Team at [email protected] for any questions.

Thank you!

The Center for Technical Assistance in Excellence for Special Education (TAESE), in partnership with ADE/ESS, is pleased to offer Saturday Mornings with the NRCP for free to all paraeducators, teachers, and administrators working in Arizona public education agencies.

The National Resource Center for Paraeducators, Related Service Providers, and Interveners (NRCP) hosts the two-hour sessions on the second Saturday of each month through July 2024. The sessions are based on the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Core Competencies for Special Education Paraeducators and include topics such as paraeducator roles and responsibilities and effective behavior management strategies.

Upcoming webinars will occur on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and will include the following topics:

March 9, 2024

Strategies for Students with Autism who are Nonspeaking

April 13, 2024

Supporting Students Who Are DeafBlind in Classroom Settings

May 11, 2024

Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Supports: How to Safely De-Escalate

Register for Saturday Mornings with the NRCP.

Virtual seats for the live webinars are available on a first-come, first-served basis. All who register will have extended access to the 2023–2024 recordings via a Canvas site until August 2024. Those who register will receive information on how to access the recordings.

The attached flyer includes additional information about the professional learning series. Please email Laura Lema with any questions.
Flyer may be found here.

DATA MANAGEMENT ALERT

ESS Portal Update

This notice is to inform Public Education Agencies (PEAs) about an upcoming update to the Exceptional Student Services (ESS) Portal. Currently, each application in the portal has a red or green indicator next to the application name, indicating whether the application is open or closed. We will be removing these indicators, which will change the look of the portal home screen.

Moving forward, each application within the ESS Portal will provide relevant information within the application to indicate its status.

We believe that this change will improve the overall functionality of the ESS Portal.

Please email the ESS Data Management inbox with any questions regarding the ESS Portal.

For immediate release: February 15, 2024
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne marks National School Resource Officers Appreciation Day

February 15 honors officers who serve students and educators

PHOENIX – All 307 School Resource Officers in Arizona have received an appreciative letter from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne in honor of today’s National School Resource Officers Appreciation Day.

Horne wrote, “I want to take the opportunity of National SRO Day to express deep thanks to all of you for the work you do in our schools.

 My nightmare has been that a maniac will invade a school and kill 20 students, as happened in other states, and could happen here, and there is no one there to protect them. If that were to happen, the parents of the students would never recover.

If the parents found out that the school could have had an SRO funded by our office, and they chose not to, you could imagine how the parents would feel about THAT decision making. That is why I pushed hard for schools to adopt SRO programs and will continue to do so. One of you may be responsible for saving those students’ lives, and their parents’ mental health. I could think of no greater achievement for anyone.

 In addition, by teaching law courses, and relating to the students, the students develop a relationship with you, and their attitude toward police officers becomes much better for the rest of their lives. As some of you may remember from when I was Attorney General, I have always been a very strong supporter of getting all law-abiding citizens to support our law-enforcement officers, and I pledge to continue to do that as much as I can. 

 I am very grateful to all of you.”

In early 2023, Horne began implementation of the nearly $100 million school safety grant program that places armed police officers on school campuses. He urged schools to prioritize this, noting that any delay in implementing this goal would leave schools more vulnerable to a tragic catastrophe. The number of law enforcement officers, including School Safety Officers (SSOs), in schools has nearly doubled. The SSO model ensures an officer is on a campus at all times when a school is unable to have a dedicated SRO.

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Please see the following information regarding free professional learning for special education staff, K-12 leadership and educators, and adult education:

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) 101: "Can't You See Me?"

TBI, the Invisible Disability 

Presenter: Dr. Susan Wolf, Educational Psychologist and TBI Consultant

Date:               Saturday, March 2, 2024 

Time:               8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.

Location:        Arizona Department of Education

                         1535 W Jefferson St. Phoenix, AZ 85007

This training will include basic information on acquired brain injuries, including injury types, incidence, prevalence, and leading causes. Based on understanding brain-behavior relationships, participants will review signs and symptoms of brain injury and discuss impacts in the classroom and community. The focus will be on formal and informal assessments to identify assets/deficits due to injury and on appropriate academic strategies to support the student in the classroom and community.

The adult education format will be a presentation, dialogue, small/large group discussions, case studies of a student with TBI, and Q&A. 

Register for “Can’t You See Me?” TBI, the Invisible Disability.

For the Arizona Department of Education to comply with state and federal reporting guidelines, school districts and charters must accurately report student enrollment and attendance at the physical school site where the student is being educated. A.R.S. § 15-1042 (B) requires school districts and charter schools to “submit electronic data on a school-by-school basis, including student-level data, to the department of education in order for the school district, career technical education district, or charter school to receive monies for the cost of educating students pursuant to this title.”

Please review the attached document for more information.

Please join ADE/ESS for the next Special Education Professionals Check-In on Thursday, February 15, 2024, from 12:00 p.m.–1:00 p.m. 

Select the link to join this Microsoft Teams event: Join Special Professionals Check-In on February 15, 2024

This month's Check-In will address two topics:

Topic 1

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to develop a State Performance Plan and Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR). This report includes indicators that evaluate the State’s efforts to implement the requirements of IDEA and describes how the state will improve its special education programs. These indicators measure child and family outcomes as well as other indicators that measure compliance with IDEA requirements.

Participants attending the Special Education Professional Check-In will hear the most recent progress on the SPP/APR indicators. This event is an opportunity for ADE to hear from special education directors and other educators if they have feedback on the direction our state takes to improve outcomes for children with disabilities.

Indicators 8, 15, 16, and 17

•            Indicator 8: Indicator 8 surveys the parents of special needs children. The purpose of the survey is to gauge how well the school is involving parents in decisions regarding their child’s special education services.

•            Indicators 15 and 16: Indicators 15 and 16 measure the percent of problems that are solved through mediation or resolution sessions.

•            Indicator 17: Indicator 17 includes a multi-year plan called the SSIP. This plan is designed to improve results for students with disabilities. In Arizona, the goal is to improve literacy achievement in grades 3 through 5.

Data Presentation: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states to develop a State Performance Plan and Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR). This report includes indicators that evaluate the State’s efforts to implement the requirements of IDEA and describes how the state will improve its special education programs. These indicators measure child and family outcomes as well as other indicators that measure compliance with IDEA requirements.

Topic 2

The second topic of this month’s Check-In is an ESS Fiscal Update. Please extend this invitation to your Business Managers, as ESS will present updates for the Fiscal Year 2025 IDEA funding applications, review available funding opportunities for Fiscal Year 2024, and provide an overview of the upcoming MOE Compliance testing window.

The IDEA Maintenance of Fiscal Effort for Public Education Agencies (PEAs) testing window for Compliance begins on March 1, 2024. During the Check-In, ADE/ESS will review the general requirements from the IDEA regulations, what financial information is crucial for the submission, and where PEAs can access their information. Additionally, ESS will recommend when PEAs should complete certain activities related to meeting special education Maintenance of Effort (MOE). Join us as we also review statewide financial data and relevant funding sources when trying to meet Maintenance of Effort for the IDEA.

SY 2023–2024 Check-In Schedule: 2023–2024 Special Education Professionals Check-Ins occur monthly, on the third Thursday of every month, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

If you have questions or suggestions for content for Check-Ins, feel free to send them to the ESS Inbox. 

For immediate release: February 12, 2024
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne and Dr. Oz announce school health, wellness and career readiness partnership
Education and HealthCorps team up

PHOENIX – State schools chief Tom Horne and Dr. Mehmet Oz, M.D., are announcing a partnership between the Arizona Department of Education and the non-profit HealthCorps initiative founded by Dr. Oz more than 20 years ago.

The partnership provides for more educational programming, leadership experiences and service learning related to student health, wellness and career development in the health care field. Also included are Arizona Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the National Football League Alumni Association (NFLA), which was represented at today’s announcement by retired NFL players Nick Lowery, Darryl Clack and Wesley Leasy.  

Horne stated, “Dr. Oz and I share a passion for having health and wellness; and we need to do as much as possible to teach and encourage healthy eating habits, exercise, and other lifestyle choices that promote the physical and mental well-being of students. Healthy students also perform better academically. HealthCorps shares my focus on that mission as well as the value of giving students opportunities to explore careers in the health care field, where workers are badly needed.”

Dr. Oz said, “This generation of teens is facing unprecedented challenges in their physical health, behavioral health, and social needs. Left unaddressed, this leads to an increased risk for mental illness, substance abuse, chronic diseases like diabetes and cancer, and a lower life expectancy. Combatting these stats, we provide teens with the tools to become more physically and mentally resilient. HealthCorps is the glue between the private sector and public agencies like the Arizona Department of Education. I am grateful to Superintendent Horne for joining me in this effort.”

The Arizona Department of Education already has significant responsibilities in the areas of school health and nutrition that lend themselves to cooperative agreements with groups like HealthCorps to address the growing health and wellness needs of Arizona students. The department’s Career and Technical Education unit has as one of its primary goals to assist students who are in programs that will lead them to careers in the health care field. And the Health and Nutrition Services group provides schools with resources for providing healthy meals.

In the near future, the Department will make resources from HealthCorps available on its online platform for educators.

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For immediate release: February 7, 2024
Contact: [email protected]
 

Horne informs schools of Governor’s halt to already-approved grant funds for art supplies
Action threatens millions of dollars in payment to arts teachers statewide

PHOENIX – The majority of a $10 million state grant that provides schools money to buy arts supplies has been put on hold by the Governor’s office, threatening payments to teachers and vendors. The funds are used to buy items such as paints, brushes, sheet music, dance props, theatrical costumes, and pay for repairs.

With payments delayed by the Governor’s action, schools had begun asking the Department of Education about the status of these dollars. Superintendent Tom Horne has sent an email to schools explaining the hold and its impact on schools and vendors who are relying on grant payments that are now delayed.

Horne stated in his email, “Pulling this funding, if it is not immediately corrected, would create a deep scar on arts education.”

He further explained, “Of the $10 million available, $2.54 million has been approved and paid. We have pending requests that we have internally approved for another $4.7 million.  Based on experience, we expect to get meritorious requests for that full $10 million. We were about to authorize the $4.7 million when we got word that the governor’s office put a hold on the funding. The total grant of $10 million had been part of the budget that she approved in the compromise budget with the legislature.”

The grant was being disbursed in phases over several state fiscal year quarters. This hold affects money allocated for the second and third quarters, the period from October of 2023 to March of 2024. Another $2.8 million has been set aside for the fourth fiscal quarter, which is this coming April through June.

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